Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite

Key facts

Located in: Vallée de la Marne
Vineyards and grape varieties: 3062.6 hectares (7567.8 acres), of which 70.8% Pinot Meunier, 18% Pinot Noir, and 11.1% Chardonnay.
Villages and classification: 24 villages, all of them “autre cru”.
Noted for: Pinot Meunier, to a large extent from south-facing slopes.

Villages in the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite

• Baslieux-sous-Châtillon: 78.1 ha (9% Ch / 74% PM / 17% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Belval-sous-Châtillon: 78.4 ha (4% Ch / 89% PM / 7% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Binson-et-Orquigny: 156.9 ha (9% Ch / 72% PM / 19% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Champlat-Boujacourt: 3.5 ha (2% Ch / 98% PM / 0% PN), autre cru (83%)
• Champvoisy: 38.4 ha (5% Ch / 92% PM / 3% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Châtillon-sur-Marne: 239 ha (7% Ch / 76% PM / 17% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Cormoyeux: 75.5 ha (19% Ch / 61% PM / 19% PN), autre cru (85%)
• Cuchery: 142.2 ha (7% Ch / 81% PM / 12% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Cuisles: 33 ha (8% Ch / 76% PM / 16% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Damery: 407.5 ha (17% Ch / 62% PM / 21% PN), autre cru (89%)
• Fleury-la-Rivière: 225.4 ha (13% Ch / 72% PM / 15% PN), autre cru (85%)
• Jonquery: 42.8 ha (8% Ch / 78% PM / 14% PN), autre cru (84%)
• La Neuville-aux-Larris: 6.9 ha (2% Ch / 96% PM / 2% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Olizy (also known as Olizy-Violaine): 51.3 ha (3% Ch / 91% PM / 6% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Passy-Grigny: 196.8 ha (5% Ch / 81% PM / 14% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Reuil: 192.6 ha (13% Ch / 56% PM / 31% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Romery: 72.5 ha (27% Ch / 60% PM / 13% PN), autre cru (85%)
• Romigny: 7.9 ha (8% Ch / 78% PM / 14% PN), autre cru (82%)
• Sainte-Gemme: 64.5 ha (3% Ch / 92% PM / 5% PN), autre cru (84%)
• Vandières: 239.2 ha (9% Ch / 72% PM / 19% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Venteuil: 183.9 ha (18% Ch / 44% PM / 38% PN), autre cru (89%)
• Verneuil: 356.1 ha (9% Ch / 74% PM / 17% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Villers-sous-Châtillon: 21.3 ha (1% Ch / 93% PM / 6% PN), autre cru (86%)
• Vincelles: 149.1 ha (15% Ch / 72% PM / 13% PN), autre cru (86%)

Maps

Google Maps view with the villages in the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite highlighted.

Map of the area Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite (as well as a large part of the Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche in the lower part of the picture). The areas in orange are the vineyards. The river running through the centre of the picture is the Marne. Cumières (to the right in picture) and the villages with their names written in smaller script are not part of the Vallée de Marne Rive Droite. There is a small error in the picture: the village between Damery and Reuil is called Venteuil, and not Verneuil. The picture belongs to the Union des Maisons de Champagne and is linked from their webpage describing the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite.

Neighbouring areas

North: Vesle et Ardre
East (the same side of the Marne): Grande Vallée de la Marne
South (opposite side of the Marne): Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche
West (both sides of the Marne): Terroir de Condé

Description

Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite (somtimes writen “RD”) is one of the 17 areas (“terroirs”) that the Champagne wine region is divided into, at least in the scheme used by the Union de Maisons de Champagne (UMC). These 17 areas are then grouped into four subregions, of which the Vallée de la Marne is one.

Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite is located on the right bank (rive droite) of the Marne river, and covers the stretch from Vincelles in the west to Damery in the east. The direct translation of the name is “Marne valley right bank”. Since the river flows to the west, the right bank is equivalent with northern side of the river, and therefore includes a lot of south-facing slopes. Also villages that are located along short tributaries and side valleys are part of the area. The most distant vineyards in the area are located about 7 km (as the crow flies) from the Marne.

Only villages located in the Marne departement are part of this area, explaining why Vincelles is the westernmost village that is included. Villages further west on the right bank of the Marne valley, in the Aisne and Seine-et-Marne departments, are counted to the areas Condé and Vallée de la Marne Rive Ouest. The eastern part of the Marne valley, where the valley is a bit wider, is also an area of its own named Grande Vallée de la Marne, and starts in Cumières. The border between the Grande Vallée de la Marne and Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite coincides with where the premier cru-classified villages end.

In the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite, there are no grand cru or premier cru villages, so all villages in this area are “autres crus”. The area does contain a significant amount of south-facing vineyards with good exposition. The two easternmost villages along the river, Damery and Venteuil, were scored 89% on the échelle des crus, i.e., they just missed out on premier cru status (90%-99%).

Along all of the Vallée de la Marne (with the exception of the Pinot Noir-dominated area Grande Vallée de la Marne), Pinot Meunier dominates clearly.

Ventuil with surroundings as seen from Boursault on the other side of the Marne river. The vineyards pictured are south-facing. Marne flows in the lower part of the picture, hidden by the trees. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Denys, 2007).

Vineyards

Current vineyard surface in the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite (as of 2013 according to CIVC) is 3062.6 ha (7567.8 acres), distributed over 1433 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the 24 villages. There are 2168.2 ha Pinot Meunier (70.8%), 550.9 ha Pinot Noir (18%) and 340.8 ha Chardonnay (11.1%).

Only in one of the villages is the proportion of Pinot Meunier below 50%: in Ventuil the number is 44%.

Links

• UMC’s new profile of the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite.
• UMC’s old profile of the Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite. (dead link)

© Tomas Eriksson 2015, last update 2018-07-11